Costa Rica requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. The country has issued plates since at least 1923. The letters "CR" on plates into the early 1940s indicated the country name. The country name has been spelled out on the plates since at least 1944. In 1959 the legend "Centro America" [Central America] has appeared on the plates. Annual plates appear to have been issued through at least 1954. There were plates where the first two characters indicated what city the owner lived in. Multi-year base plates began to appear in 1955, but their use was not consistent until the mid-1960s. The current plate size is the North American standard of 6 × 12 inches (152 × 300 mm).
